Monday, August 10, 2009

Sunday D&D Round 4: Suck Electric Doom, Fools!

Last night's D&D session was a rockin' good time filled with surprises. Surprise 1: my chicken didn't cook all the way, very embarrassing! This time we had Dilly, Rachael, Tom, Lori, and Jeff, along with two NPC kobold slaves. Full house!

After debating things for a bit, the party decided that there must be some way to cure Lori in the dungeon, so back they went. You may remember that Lori was kissed by a vargouille last time. This means that in 4d6 hours, her hair falls out, her ears becomes wings, and her head tears away from her body and flies away! Already her hair has begun to drop, so the clock is ticking. They remembered that one of the kobolds they interrogated had mentioned another group of adventures having recently been captured, so they set out to find them, thinking that they might have a cleric in their ranks of a high enough level to cast the needed Cure Disease.

The first fight of the night was a real shock (ha! ha. ahem) with two Shocker Lizards holed up in a steamy fountain. When I read the adventure I didn't really pay them much attention, thinking that they would be nothing more than a minor nuisance. Boy was I wrong! Three rounds of combat later and the lizards had unleashed enough electric doom to slay both kobold slaves AND Jeff's familiar! I can honestly say that I have never seen a familiar die before, as weak as they are they always seem to make their saves, but not this time. Poor Jeff lost some XP and has to wait a year and a day before he can summon up a new friend. Ouch! As if that wasn't bad enough, Jeff got kicked into the negatives by the lizards' blast as well. A truly brutal encounter! Regardless, the party quickly dispatched the foes and headed deeper into the old Dwarven structure.

A bit later, after successfully avoiding a nasty (but totally obvious) trap, they came upon a secret chamber populated by a ghostly dwarf, who hyp-motized all but Jeff with its insane mumbling. Jeff's sorcerer, last man standing, blasted the punk with a Disrupt Undead spell, and for damage he rolled on the 30 sider (using Jeff Rient's once-per-game 30 sider rule). It was a tense moment as the die flitted about the table, and when it rested on 29 they let out a fierce yell as the dwarven ghost was blasted into infinity in one fell swoop. Sometimes it can be disappointing to see a tough enemy clocked out in a single hit, but when the party is doomed and that 30 pulls them outta the fire I can't help but be excited as well.

Soon enough the party stumbled upon a large group of kobolds discussing the shortcomings of their king. These guys were totally ready to switch sides, if only they had gotten a chance to speak before their rabble-rousing leader was sliced to bloody ribbons. Act first, ask questions never is the motto of this group it seems. As soon as their leader was slain, the other kobolds turned and ran. Tom did manage to get a single kobold to join them from the group that fled, a warrior named Lurka who had had enough of the king's whacky plans and was ready to lay down some beatings against his old pals. Dilly taunted the poor creature relentlessly, nearly resulting in a fight, but the others managed to cool things down enough to proceed to the next chamber just in time for another massive battle.

Turning the corner they came upon a group of kobolds, now bolstered by the ones they had just chased off, locked in combat with a badly wounded halfling and two small children. As it turns out, the kobolds had abducted the kids for a sacrifice from the nearby town. Not that the party, mostly evil, seemed to care one bit. No, they were here for the halfling, which for some reason they were sure was a cleric. After a bloody battle, the few remaining kobolds ran for the hills and the halfling was saved. Unfortunately, the party soon learned that this guy was a complete doofus. Cue goofy voice! It turns out he's a bard, and a pretty useless one at that, part of an adventuring party that had been captured while attempting to rescue the captive children. He had, despite his shortcomings, managed to free two of the five children, but the not-so-noble adventurers were pretty non-plused by the whole affair. As the "sweaty, moon-faced halfling" (as described in the adventure) had but 4 hit points and few useful spells remaining, they decided to leave him with the kids in an easily defended room and move on. There was some talk of simply killing him outright, and they even asked how much XP they would get for the dirty deed, but they relented for one reason or another and the game was ended for the night.

Now things are getting really tense. The clock is ticking for Lori, Tom and Jeff are running out of spells, and rest isn't really an option for them with less than 24 hours remaining before heads begin to fly away. Lurka, their new kobold buddy, remembered that the king had some sort of magic dagger that could possibly cure diseases, but its a long way to the king from where they now stand, and their route is packed with enemies. With spells running low and hit points down, things are looking grim for our bloodthirsty heroes. Will they find the magic dagger in time? Will they survive the many fights between them and the king? Will Lurka live long enough to level? Will Rachael get to doom-hug more suckas? Will Jeff eat his char-broiled raven familiar? Tune in next week and find out!